Giannoulias: Don't Ask, Don't Tell The Press

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Senate Democratic candidate Alexi Giannoulias says the gay community can count on him to support repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy -- in fact he announced he's joining a national campaign to petition Congress to immediately make that change.

So why didn't he tell the mainstream media, and instead only invited the gay media to his announcement?

2010 Illinois Election Guide

iannoulias met with members of the LGBT community and two US Servicement discharged for being in violation of the DADT policy Monday at The Center on Halsted.

Only after Ward Room learned of the event and asked inquired did campaign spokesman Matt McGrath say "this wasn't done for the benefit of the entire press corps. This is no different than meeting with a group of labor leaders."

Several hours after the DADT event, Giannoulias said "we continue outreach to different communities and we have supported don't ask don't tell for a long time."

So why the brush off? Clearly, the campaign wanted the media to focus its attention today on the new internal poll that shows that race dead even.

Given opponent Mark Kirk's eight-point lead last month, the Giannoulias team is rejoicing and saying "momentum's on their side." No more talk about replacing Giannoulias on the Democratic ticket.

As for Kirk?

"We will see a lot polls between now and November," said a campaign spokesperson. "In the end, the people of Illinois will have a clear choice to turn our economy around and restore integrity to the Land of Lincoln."

Published at 5:03 PM CDT on May 17, 2010 | Updated at 5:15 PM CDT on May 17, 2010